Trust, Loyalty and Love
by krissy90210
Summary: My AU take on the conclusion of the whole explosion in 2x10. Will be more about Deeks/Kensi's partnership and the outcome of what happens in chapter 1. But also with some fluff of my fav shipping  hence the characters I chose . R&R!
1. Chapter 1

She had known it was going to be a bad day. From the moment that she had woken up, everything had felt _off._ It wasn't just the fact that she had awoken to a ringing cell, asking for a lift from her partner from a park far from his place. Or that her apartment was empty except for her. She was use to those two things. Getting up, Kensi had even used the wrong side of the bed, but considering the mess of clothes on her usual one, there was nothing she could do about it.

Now, as she stood as still as she could in a room filled with explosive-triggered invisible lasers, she couldn't help but wonder whether the saying was true. Did getting up on the wrong side of the bed cause everything else to happen, and therefore leading her to that moment? It was possible. With the way things were going, there was nothing else for her to do but contemplate the reasoning.

Going into the bank and driving away, being the decoy, was nothing short of a daily job for her. She didn't regret doing it. Of course, if she died, she most probably would. But it would be more for those she left behind than herself. Kensi knew too well what guilt could do to a person, and she had no doubt that everyone single person on her team would feel it deeply if she didn't make it out of there. It was the only thing that was keeping her standing. That, and the camera that she had long ago spotted when doing a look around of the room. If there was a camera, then she knew that her team would be watching her right then. She couldn't do anything stupid like killing herself in front of their eyes. It wasn't humane.

Hours must have passed, but time all melded together in the small, white room. The only thing that kept her from giving in and sitting down and trying her luck that there would be no laser near her was the blinking red light of the camera telling her that it was still transmitting. And if it was transmitting, then she had no doubt it was being watched on the other side by someone at OSP. Anybody else, she'd have been the one keeping one eye on the feed whilst out trying to find them. But with it being her, it would probably be Eric. And he was way too innocent to watch her die.

The others would be the ones trying to find her, using that little book as a bargaining tool. In her mind it was much more valuable than her life, but she knew noone else would see it like that. Especially not their team leader, who was more than just that to her. If anything, he'd be the first one to suggest it and the last one to back down until everyone else agreed. But she doubted anyone else would have any objections. If she could actually talk to them, she'd tell them to take a minute and _think_ about it. Although, the last time she ever tried to tell G Callen to do anything when he was hellbent on the opposite, she had lost. Horribly. Though, it hadn't been that bad of a lesson to learn when she thought about it.

Kensi wasn't sure how long it had been before the door opened and in walked, or rather skidded, her partner. He tried to near her, as she assumed anyone else would, before she stopped him and showed him why exactly she wasn't moving. As he pulled out a special little gadget to get them out of there, she couldn't help but to wonder why it had been Deeks who had come to get her and not Callem. Surely, if she was in a dangerous situation, he must have known that she would believe him when he told her she'd be ok. Because Deeks' fancy toy wasn't helping her morale much. But she accepted it and went along because there was no other way out. And if it went wrong, at least she'd have tried. She just hoped it didn't hurt anyone else.

The first few hadn't been too tricky once the odd laser had been eliminated, but the nearer she got to the door, the harder it got. Finally, there was nothing left to do but run. The only question was whether she trusted him enough to get her out of there or not. After what she had just endured, she couldn't say that she didn't. With nothing left to lose and nowhere else to go, she placed her hands in his offered ones and let him count them down.

Her legs had slowly been turning into jelly after standing for so long, and she had no idea where the energy to suddenly run had come from. She assumed adrenaline; the same reason why she didn't feel any pain from being thrown forward by the explosion. At least, she hoped it was that. If not, then the only other reasoning would be that she was dead. After all she had just done, she would not be happy with that.

When the smoked had cleared, both from around her and in her mind, Kensi realised that the reason she hadn't hurt herself much was because she had landed on someone else. Immediately pushing herself up to elevate the weight of herself, she paused for a moment to get her head around what had happened. She didn't get a second before she was sharing some light banter with Deeks. She wouldn't _ever _take the ability to talk freely with someone without the pressure of imminent death ever again.

Feeling the adrenaline start to wear off, she began to push herself up more, using gentle movements so to examine if there was anything broken or not. But she didn't get so far with her partner's arms still holding her close. Thinking that ther bantering session wasn't over yet, she gave him a smirk, opening his mouth to tease him how the other two might get the wrong idea if they came to check on them when he did something that she had _definately_ not expected.

He kissed her.

It took a moment for her to realise what was happening, frozen in her palce by shock. As soon as she got over it, she pulled herself away, finally managing to get out of his grip on her and sit back. _Uh-oh,_ was the first thing that ran through her mind. "Deeks-" she began to say, only for him to cut her off as he sat up too.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to..." she trailed off with a flimsy shrug whilst avoiding her eyes.

"Why-?" Kensi began again, this time cutting herself off as she tried to think straight, "Did I do-?" she broke off aggain, not sure if she wanted to know the answer to that one. If she had led him on, right then, after almost dying, was not the time that she wanted to get into it. "I'm _married_, Deeks. You can't just ki-"

He cut her off again. "I know that. I'm sorry. It was a momentous thing."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at his chosen words. "Momentous?"

"As in, in the moment." Kensi nodded, happy that he was now looking at her. "We almost died. I saved you. I had to do something stupid after that. Balance things out." she nodded once again, not entirely believing him and his calmness about it. "Just forget it happened. I have."

"Done." she assured him. He didn't say anything back as his facial expression suddenly changed to one on guard that confused her until she noticed that he was getting something through on his earpeice. After telling them they were fine, he stood up and offered a hand out to her. Pushing aside her pride for a second, Kensi accepted it as she didn't really have the energy to do it herself. The fading of the adrenaline was leaving her very weak.

They began walking down towards where Deeks had said the cars were parked. Only halfway down the stairs, he stopped and waited for her to catchup the two steps in difference. He stayed in step with her this time and she got the feeling he wanted to say something. "Let's keep it between us, yeah?"

Kensi frowned. "Keep what?" he looked at her with a knowing look before nodding back. With everything that had happened, and her sudden tiredness, the events of recent were ebbing in and out of the front of her mind. She didn't want to think about it, and agreeing to forget about it was the best way about that. Instead, he brought it up again. "Yeah, sure." she agreed.

"Cool." he replied before shooting her his goofy grin. "This way, I don't have to keep looking over my shoulder for a pissed off agent." he laughed, and she put on a smile for his benefit. Truth was, by keeping it a secret made it feel like she would be lying. And by lying, she would feel guilty. And by feeling guilty, it would be like the kiss had been something significant. Which it hadn't, at least on her part. But a promise was a promise, even if they hadn't said that specific word. _Right_?

* * *

_**Don't worry - this will not turn into a romantic Deeks/Kensi fic. But it's based on their partnership/friendship/trust and all that jazz, mixed with my shippers heart. Please leave me even the tiniest of reviews. I take good and bad. First fic ever so all comments are appreciated.**_


	2. Chapter 2

She saw the cars before she saw the other two approaching men. Looks of anguish and rush was written on both their faces, and their quick paces towards them backed it up. But when they spotted them, or rather _her_, Kensi saw them slow back to their normal speed. Sam, the more openly emotional one, reached her first. He eyed her carefully, not accepting her words of feeling fine despite the small ordeal and the dirt on them, before taking her into a gentle hug and telling her he was glad she was ok. Pulling back, she smiled in return before joking that she did more in training than she had in that day.

Callen had neared them, not enough to get into their personal space or invade their sortof privacy, but enough so that she didn't have to take more than two steps to have his arms around her in another hug. This one was much more fiecer and tighter, yet somehow, soft. She could hear him whispering how sorry he was for sending her in but all she could think about was the fact that less than an hour ago, she wasn't sure whether she'd ever get to see him, or anyone else for that matter, ever again. Let alone to hold them and hear unreasonable apologies.

Kensi pulled away from him when she figured it would be too hard to cover her slight slip of her toughened exterior if she stayed in his embrace in public any longer. As she had figured, the other two had walked away, giving them space and time whilst conversing in what she thought would be about the men they had gone after. She began to head in that direction but was stopped when Callen gripped her wrist. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah." she assured him. Or at least, tried, if the uncertain look in his eyes were anything to go by.

"Are you sure?"

Kensi paused for a second for emphasis. "_Yes_." she said, trying a smile that felt more natural than before. At his nod of acceptance, they made their way over to where the other two stood.

A brief general conversation between the four of them filled her and Deeks in with what they had missed, and a quick two line summary had filled Sam and Callen in with what _they_ had missed inside of the laser room before it had exploded. She didn't miss the impressive looks that they both gave to them, or the small nod that was directed more at her partner. It was subtle but she was trained to catch small things.

Making their way towards the cars, she stuck close to Callen, not enough to invade any sense of professionalism, but enough so that she hoped that Sam would get the message without her having to risk her dignity and saying it out loud. Luckily for her, the three other men all understood her actions and noone said as word as Sam climbed into the driver's seat of the 2nd car with Deeks whilst she climbed into the passenger's seat of Callen's car.

Although she had sat down, so to say, after the explosion, there had been other things on her mind that had kept her body from relaxing entirely. Now, as they drove off towards the Ops centre, she could let out a deep, but shakey, breath and sit back. Leaning her head against the headrest, she pulled down the sunvisor for the mirror hidden in it to see what she looked like. She expected dirt and grime, but there was nothing. Nothing but clear exhaustion. She smirked at her reflection as she ran a hand through her hair, trying to settle it before snapping shut the visor.

Although he had on his sunglasses to enable him to drive as the sun shone right at them, she could see both the relief and slight humor on his face. "What?" she asked dryly, picking up the water bottle from the cup holder and taking a small sip before replacing it back again.

Callen shook his head until they stopped at a redlight, when he reached a hand over to carefully take her chin between his thumb and finger and brushed his lips against hers. It was quick and chaste, appropiate for only the time and not their mutual desire for more, but it was enough to send the guilt bubbling inside. The light had turned green before either could do or say anything more, but the reassuring smile that he gave her was enough to make her want to cry and confess. But she didn't, not out of respect for her partner's wishes but because, if she was honest, there was nothing for her to confess. _She_ hadn't been the one to kiss him. _She_ hadn't done anything wrong. _She_ had been the one to push him away.

The small monologue in her head was enough to keep Kensi sane as she kicked off her shoes and pulled up her feet onto the seat. She knew that he had serious issues with anyone who ruined his car in any little way, but she figured he'd give _her_ a small allowance after what she had been through. Crossing her arms atop of her knees, she rested her head on top of them, letting out a deep sigh and small unintentional groan of both pain and pleasure.

"You ok, Kenz?" Callen asked her after a moment. She could almost feel his eyes burning into her head.

"Yeah." she said, not moving from her spot.

He kept looking over at her before reaching out and pushing back the hair that kept falling forwards that blocked his view of the side of her face. "What's wrong, sweetheart? You can't sit like that and not expect me to question you." he asked her.

Kensi sat up, only lifting her head away and letting it rest back against the head rest once again. This time, though, she turned it to look over at him. "Nothing. I'm just achey. Been standing up straight for too long." she assured him with a smile. He looked over quickly to see if she was telling the truth or not. Glad that she was, he nodded and reached out a hand once again to lay on her thigh as she laid her head back down again.

"Listen, how about I drop you off home, yeah? You can relax and eat while we finish all this up." he suggested, frowning a bit when she shook her head and lifted it back up again. "What?"

"I need to go get my stuff." she said.

"I'll grab it." he said in argument, but she only sighed, raising his concern for her. "Kensi?"

"I don't fancy going home and being alone right now, G." she admitted, placing a hand on his and rubbing it gently. "All that time in that room I was by myself. I'll be fine for another hour or two. I can get cleaned up at Ops."

Squeezing her leg gently to tell her that he got her and was sorry was pushing her, he replied, "Ok." They didn't say another word until they reached their headquaters. There was only one other car parked outside, with a bike leaning against the wall, indicating that they had beaten the other two there. But that was no suprise when comparing Callen's driving speed to anyone elses. "Hey," he began as she slipped on her shoes once again and got to get out of the car.

She paused with a hand on the door handle. "Yeah?" she asked, looking back over at him.

"If you want to go home, or anything, just let me know, ok?" he told her and gave her a stern look that said that he was being more serious than ever.

"Ok." Kensi agreed before getting out of the car and heading for the main door of the Ops centre without even waiting for him.

It didn't take long for him to catch up. As much as she hated to admit it, her aching body was keeping her from walking normally, and instead dragged her feet. She knew that everyone else would have questions for her, and if they saw her like she looked right then, she wouldn't be able to avoid their looks of both worry and small pity. Not wanting that, she made a detour towards the changing rooms that contained the showers before she saw anyone else on their team. A hot shower was exactly what she needed to relax her muscles and body and wash away the day.

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**_Thank you for the adds in alerts and favorites and the reviews, Callensifan and evershort, you guys all made this chapter come as quick as it did. Please read and leave a comment once again, no matter what you think, I would like to hear it. Even if it's just a word, or if it's a 1000, hahhah._**


	3. Chapter 3

Breaking into a car and pointing a gun at the man in charge of putting into the laser room helped Kensi with get her mind over what had happened. She had spoken with and apologized to Hetty about the lost book, but she had brushed it off to her confusion. It was only on the journey home did she find out why, and she wasn't sure whether she should be happy that they hadn't given away a vital piece of national sercurity information or upset that they risked her life for it. Finally, when they reached home, she decided it didn't matter because there was no proof that the real one actually exsisted and she was alive and in one piece, so she let it go.

She entered their place first, dropping her things in the hallway without another thought and made her way towards their room to get changed. She had gotten changed after her shower, but she couldn't feel relaxed yet. She knew deep inside that it wasn't the clothes, but it was worth a try. It didn't take her long to discard her current clothes and put some new ones on. Tying her hair up into a messy bun, she left the room to go back into the main part of the house which she found surprisingly empty. A minute later, Callen entered with a plate and a bottle of water. She frowned as he made her sit down on the couch and handed her the food.

"You have to eat something." he told her as she curled her legs up under her on the couch and balanced the plate on her knees. Food had been the last thing on her mind, but when she looked at the sandwich, she had to admit that her stomach was begging to be fed.

"Thanks." she said before taking a bite out of it. He placed the bottle in the space between her and the back of the couch and then sat down on the other side of the couch. "You don't have to sit with me."

Callen shrugged and reached for the TV remote control. "I want to." he told her.

Kensi smiled to herself at his protective nature. "When I said I didn't want to be alone, I ment in a place. You don't have to stay next to me all the time." she told him and he looked over at her to see her more relaxed that day since before they had gotten the case but he wasn't convinced and she picked up on that. "I'm ok. I'm just going to eat this and go to bed."

"Ok." he said, giving in. "I'm going to grab a shower then."

"Ok." she repeated, giving him another smile as he stood up and passed her to head in the direction of the hallway where the bathroom was located.

It didn't take her more than ten minutes to finish her food and that was only because of the distraction of the TV. She switched it off before going to the kitchen to place her plate. There was a glass already in the sink and she put aside her tiredness to roll up the long sleeves of the man's shirt that she currently wore to stop it from getting wet and washed up. It didn't take her long to do the two peices of cutlery, and it was only as she dried up that she realised that her hands were shaking a bit and that she was using more force than necessary.

The events of the day were catching up with her more as she tried not to think about then rather than when she did. Before she knew it, tears were pricking at her eyes and she stubbornly kept them back and expressed them instead in the form that she knew best - aggressiveness. She didn't know that she was slamming the cupboard doors until she was stopped by a voice asking her in amusement what they had done to her.

Kensi stilled at his words and instead of looking over at him, she simply placed her hands flat down onto the counter in front of her and looked down, breathing deeply to make herself calmer. She didn't reply to his words and she could feel him approach her from behind. He said her name gently but she didn't respond, only pushed him away as he tried to turn her around. Finally, she gave in and allowed him to turn her but she didn't lift her gaze up from the ground until he spoke again.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he tried gently again, not letting go of her waist even as she raised her eyes to meet his. The tears came forward once again and she pressed the balls of her palms to her eyes to actually keep them back. Callen took it as a sign and she went with him as he pulled her into an embrace, holding her tightly as she dropped her hands to go around his waist as his went around her shoulders. She pressed her face into his chest for a moment, letting the tears free for as long as she could without entirely breaking down. She could hear him whisper comforting words in her ear, but it only made the situation worse on the inside.

On the outside, though, she pulled away slowly, running her fingers through her hair before wiping away the tears that clinged to her eyelashes. She felt him smooth down her hair as she rubbed her eyes gently to get rid of the evidence of her tears. She woul apologize, but Kensi knew that he wouldn't accept it and only worry more. So she waited until he asked her once again if she was alright, and this time she shook her head.

"I'm tired. I'm beyond tired and everything's just getting to me." she admitted to him, letting him pull her close but not into another embrace. She had to admit that it did help. "I'm not use to being in those situations where I can't do anything and have no control. I thought going after him in the car would help, but it didn't. I just wanted to get out in the end and I didn't care how."

Callen understood what she was trying to say and frowned with a fixed stearn look, placing a hand on her cheek to make her look at him as he told her, "Don't you _dare_ say that. You know that I would _always_ come for you. No matter what or where." he watched her as she lowered her eyes and stayed quiet. "You know, Kenz, right?"

Looking up, she nodded with a soft smile. "I know." she told him, knowing that there was more to her behaviour than her excess tiredness, but couldn't get into that right then. She sighed and told herself that once again that there was no need to worry about it or to feel guilty. It worked for the moment and she was able to lean more into him. "I just wasn't thinking straight then. I don't know what I was thinking, except that I didn't want you guys to see through the camera if something happened to me. It's the only thing that kept me going."

"The _only_ thing?" he asked and teased her, placing his forehead against hers.

"_One_ of the things." she corrected herself, not having to add what the other thing was.

"Good." Callen said before kissing her deeply, something that she accepted with much need. When they broke apart, he pulled away to create a little space between them and pushed back the fallen hair from her face. "I love you."

It wasn't something that she was use to hearing, especially not after her father died, but she had become use to hearing it more and more often over the past couple of years and she was glad, because it meant that she could say it back and mean it too. It wasn't something that she thought he was use to either, so it had worked out pretty well for the two of them. "Love you, too." she replied, a more genuine smile stretching on her mouth and she knew it was because of the simpleness of that moment.

"Good." he said again with a small laugh before pulling away completely except for holding one of her hands. "Go to bed. I'll finish up here and join you in a minute."

She agreed without bothering to argue and made her way to the bedroom and climbed straight into bed after pulling her hair free from the hairband. The minute was more like 5 but soon enough, he was joining her in bed too, holding her close as they both drifted off to sleep. At least, she was sure he did. It was usually her who fell asleep first and got up last, but this time, Callen had already fallen asleep by the time she looked up to see what the time was. Surprisingly, 2 hours had passed since she had gotten into bed and gotten lost in her own thoughts. Willing it away and telling her that it wasn't her secret to tell, which it wasn't as it had been Deeks' actions and not hers, she was able to finally fall into an exhausted and dreamless sleep after curling up as much as she could into her husband's body.

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**_OMG, I can't believe the response I'm getting to this little fic. It's awesome! Thanks for the adds in alerts and favs and the reviewers, xuan441, jump4joy13, Motherofmytwo, asdf, evershort, Madil93 and DonStella! PLEASE REVIEW once again and let me know what you thought of this chapter too._**


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning had gone more to a normal schedule than the previous one, waking up to a human alarm in a much more pleasurable way than her cell phone. The only thing that had changed was the concerned look Callen had given her when she had finally gotten up before telling her that if she wanted to take the day off and rest, he'd make it happen and was sure that everyone else would understand. Kensi had shook her head and said that she was feeling much better, and she found that she wasn't even lying when she said that this time.

Once ready to go, she stopped by the bathroom to find two certain items that she wanted to wear that day and found them with relative ease. They were walking towards the car when he spotted the additional jewellary and he raised an eyebrow at her after capturing her left hand to take a better look. "What?" she asked him.

"I honesly cannot remember the last time you wore these." he said, rubbing the simple engagement and wedding rings on her ring finger before dropping her hand.

Kensi shrugged. "Me either. We're always working." she told him. "I miss the weight of them and I figured that I wouldn't be in the field today, so I might as well take the chance."

Callen raised an eyebrow at her words. "You won't be?" he commented on her words about not being in the field, knowing that it was his choice more than anyone elses when it came to who went in the field and who didn't.

"Will I?" she asked him sceptically.

"No. Not after yesterday. Maybe tomorrow." he said, backing up what she had said. "Hopefully we won't have a case today at all."

"Told you." Kensi said with a laugh and got into the car at the passengers side before driving off towards Ops.

* * *

They had gotten lucky and not had any new cases to chase after that day, but they did have paperwork left over from the day before. They had all attempted it with a bit of effort at the start of the day but as the time went on, they all got bored of it and decided that training would be more fun than working. Kensi agreed readily, needing to find a way to release her excess energy and gain a bit of control once again after the day before, even if it meant having to lose her rings for a little while.

They had started with a small sparring competition between them all for the fun of it before breaking off into their partner pairs when joined by other memebers in the gym. Sometimes, they all forgot that there were other people who worked in the same place as them who had to use the gym too.

Things has seemed all normal that morning between them all, and Kensi was happy that there was nothing weird between them especially her and Deeks. He had acted his usual goofy self which told her that he had stuck to what he had suggested and forgotten about it, which she was happy about, because if he could forget about it then she shouldn't be worrying about it.

She wasn't surprised when Callen and Sam started to play a game of basketball to pass the time rather than to work, but was really surprised when her own partner challanged her to a _real_ sparring match with no props or anything. She agreed, not wanting to turn him down and face a lot of teasing from it for being too chicken which she knew would happen if she said no.

It started off slow with more verbal sparring and psyching each other out than physical before they got into it. They were both as good as each other, which surprised Kensi when he managed to ground her in their 5th round, but she then managed to sweep his legs out from under him and pinned him down to win that round too. She grinned down at him in victory, pinning his arms down to stop him from turning them around so that he could win in the end anyway, especially as she sat very unsteadily on her knees atop of his body.

"Ouch." Deeks exclaimed at her move when he could finally think after been taken all of a sudden. "I thought I had you there."

"That's why you lost." she laughed with smugness. "End it here before someone _really_ gets hurt?"

He pretended to think about her question even though he knew that the one person who would get hurt seriously in their fighting would be him. "Maybe one more round?" he said anyway, not wanting to give in without a proper fight.

"You really like losing don't you?" she shook head before getting serious when he smiled in return. "What? Kensi asked suspiciously when he looked around as if to check who was watching them. She did the same and wasn't surprised to see that everyone else was more into their own actions than theirs.

He leaned up just a little bit , making her let go of his arms and start to get up but stopping when he whispered. "Kinda reminds you of yesterday, huh?" he joked. She had a sudden flashback to the previous day to when after they had blown the room up and landed outside in similar positions, though she had been leaning more on him back then. She remembered with a frown what that moment had led to and she could feel the guilt and anger build up inside once again, not knowing why he would bring it up again when he had been the one who had said to forget about it in the first place.

She couldn't remember how her emotions had taken over her actions when she was really well trained in keeping her emotions in check and under her control, but her fist had been made and had punched him in the nose before she could even think, not that she needed to because she didn't regret it. It even made her feel a bit better and she would have done it again if she hadn't been stopped.

Callen's arm around her waist from behind dragged her off him before she could do any more damage as she had planned and she fought against him at first. "Hey, calm down, Kensi." he warned her as he held her tight to make sure she didn't try to do anything stupid. She hated the fact that even though she knew how to fight and everything, any man had the power of strength over her.

She stopped fighting against him and breathed deeply to catch her breath again from the fighting, and then looked over at where Sam was helping Deeks stand up while her partner kept on poking at his nose to try stopping the small blood leaking from it. "He's fine."

Deeks' head snapped over to her when he heard her words. "I am not!" he exclaimed before dropping his voice a bit. "And I didn't mean _that_. There was no need to punch me."

Kensi narrowed her eyes at him to give him a deadly look that showed that she didn't believe him even if he was telling the truth, which he was. When she didn't say anything, Callen spoke instead. "What's going on?" There was no reply and he looked over at Sam who only shrugged, telling him that he didn't know anything either. He looked at the woman who he still had an arm around to keep her from repeating her actions. "Kensi?"

She stayed quiet for a moment and then let out a long breath, deciding that she could handle it better herself and that it was something her and Deeks had to sort out. "Nothing." she said turning slightly in a hint to break away from Callen's hold on her. She didn't make it far when he refused to let go, not trusting her yet not that she blamed him after she had just punched her patner.

"Really? You punched Deeks for _nothing_?" he asked skeptically and she nodded, pulling away harder and he finally loosened his hold on her but not let go entirely. "Deeks?"

Deeks looked over at him and then her before shaking his head lightly. "Nothing. Just a bad sparring match." he lied even though noone believed him.

"Happy?" Kensi asked sarcastically before pulling his arm away from her with more ease than she thought it would be and walking away towards the changing rooms without another word or look or anything and ignored the other people in the room who had gone silent and still after she had punched Deeks.

Sam waited until she had gone out of their view and Callen had neared them before speaking. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." Deeks said again and held a towel to his bleeding nose. He looked around the room to see people looking back at them, though some were polite enough to pretend they weren't and got back to work. The ones who didn't soon did when Callen copied his actions and looked around. The fact that they were still scared of the man that they had worked with longer than he had scared him but he forgot about that for the time being. "They're looking at me."

Sam smirked at him. "Of course they are. You just got punched by Kensi." he said and Deeks smiled shyly. "So what _did_ you do?"

Callen cut in before he could speak in a tone just like his partner's filled with both amusement but much more concern. "And don't say nothing. We've worked with Kensi for years and she's never punched us."

"Ever." Sam said nodding. "And we've pissed her off to levels that noone else could." he added and when Deeks didn't reply again, he carried on. "Except you, obviously."

"So what did you do?" Callen asked again, crossing his arms and waiting for an answer. Deeks knew he wasn't going to get out of this at all so he sighed deeply and tilted his head back a bit before speaking.

"You really don't want to know." he said and saw Sam and Callen swap looks of worry.

"What did you do, Deeks." Callen demanded this time, keeping his voice low but seriously steady.

Letting out another breath, he shook his head. "Lemme begin by sayi-" he said before getting cut off by a roaring voice.

"What on _Earth_ happened to you, Mr Deeks? I have people telling me my agents are beating each other up into pulp! So I come here thinking, no no, that can't be true, but alas, here you are!" the voice of their boss, Hetty, came as she made her way over to the three of them. "Well?" she demanded when noone said anything.

Sam patted the injured man on the shoulder. "Deeks'll explain." he said with a fake smile before heading off. Callen stood for a moment longer, knowing that there was something going on that he didn't know about and didn't like. Instead of heading in the direction that Sam had gone to the game they had been playing, he went to the dressing rooms and got changed, hoping to catch Kensi before she began avoiding them.

* * *

_**Wow, longest chapter ever! More amazing replies to the last chapter! Wow! Thanks for all the adds, favs and reviews, people. Thanks more to evershort, CharlieLPHJ, asdf, xuan441 and DonStella!**_


	5. Chapter 5

She wasn't surprised to see Callen waiting down the corridor from the changing rooms and sitting on the bench that was there. He was looking down at his hands and not at her but she knew he was waiting for her and that if she went the other way, he'd only follow her. Kensi let out a breath and started walking towards him as casually as she could. The long hot shower had helped her relax and think things through especially about hitting Deeks. She realised that it had only made things worse and now the others were going to want to know the truth, but she wasn't sure whether it was better for her to tell them the truth and risk them not trusting or liking Deeks anymore, or not telling them and risking being caught out later and being in even more trouble.

She didn't come to a proper decision when she reached where Callen sat. "Waiting for me?" she asked him and stood opposite him. He looked up with a small smile and didn't look surprised that she was there.

"Yes." he simply said and waited for her to move, but when she didn't he carried on. "So you punched Deeks."

Kensi sighed and shrugged. "Can we not do this now?" she said quietly with a sigh and he simply raised an eyebrow.

"No." he said blankly, the smile disappearing. "What's going on, Kenz? And don't you dare say nothing." she didn't reply right away as she realised that he was more worried than angry even if he sounded more angry than worried.

She leaned against the wall and shrugged again. "Yeah, it's _something_ but it's something I need to talk to him about first." she said, realsing that her actions from before weren't really appropiate no matter what had happened, especially if she wanted to deal with it without anyone else taken extreme actions, such as her husband himself.

"About what?" Callen asked and when she didn't say anything, he added more. "You know, yesterday, I thought you were just getting over being in that room and almost dying, and last night when you couldn't sleep, I thought you were just too shocked to, and this morning when you were quieter than usual when we were working, I though it was because you just wanted to get the paperwork done with so you didn't have to think about it anymore. But it wasn't, was it?"

Kensi stared at him and wondered how he could have picked it all up like that when she hadn't even noticed some of it. "No." she said and Callen nodded and stood up.

"What did he do, Kensi?" he asked her and came to stand in front of her close enough so that noone else would be able to hear what they were saying if anybody had been around, which they were not.

She let out a breath again and looked him straight in the eyes so that he could see she wasn't lying. "He said something stupid. That's all." she told him but he only raised an eyebrow at her words.

"He always says something stupid. It's Deeks. That's all he knows with you. Even we say stupid things but you've never hit us." he told her and she smiled a little to his confusion.

"Doesn't mean I don't want to." she said and he smiled a bit back but not as fully as she wanted so she sighed again and tried to clear things up as best as she could. "It was just a mix of yesterday and what he said. I shouldn't have hit him and I'm going to go apologize now."

Callen shrugged at her words. "I don't care that you hit him, I want to know _why_."

"You'll have to wait then, if ever." she told him, anger boiling inside of her suddenly when she realised that she wanted to take care of it rather than him. "Ok?"

He didn't say anything at first but then shook his head and sighed. "Fine." he said before placing a hand on her cheek and kissed her on the forehead and then walked away without another word. Kensi let out a deep breath when he was finally out of sight and looked back down the corridor that he had gone, knowing that the rest of the team would be there but most probably not Deeks, who she was now looking for. Instead, she waited in the same spot that Callen had waited for her and felt the guilt start to eat at her once again from the way she had treated him only a minute ago.

* * *

Kensi didn't have to wait too long when Deeks came around the corner and down towards where she was sitting. She saw him stop when he saw her and she gave him a small smile to tell him that it was ok and that she wanted to talk to him and not hurt him more. He walked over to her and sat down on the other end of the bench.

"How's the nose?" she asked him and looked at the reddened and swollen nose.

Deeks shrugged and spoke a bit funnily because of the swollen nose. "I've had worse."

"I didn't mean to hit you. I can't even remember thinking it. It just happened." she told him. "I'm sorry."

"I guess I deserved it after yesterday. I was surprised you didn't hit me yesterday after...you know." he replied seriously and Kensi had to think about the last they actually had such a serious conversation before the day before. "Did you tell Callen why you hit me?"

"No. You'd know if I told him." she said with a small smirk.

Deeks smirked back. "I figured I was lucky to be alive this morning. I was going to tell them but Hetty came in and stopped me from beind able to. I think you should tell him and get it over and done with."

"It's in the past, isn't it?" she asked him and he nodded. "Then what's the point in bringing it up. Ever. It'll only cause more problems than solve."

He shook his head at her words. "I'll tell him if you want. Make sure he knows that it wasn't your fault." he told her. "He'll find out one day, you know he will. It's _Callen. _He's like Hetty that way."

"If he must know then I'll tell him." Kensi said while thinking about what Deeks had just said and knowing that it was true. "But not here."

Deeks laughed at her words. "I have no doubt that he would shoot me there and then if you him with me around."

"Exactly." she said a bit uneasily, not liking the idea of it after she had hurt him herself. "I guess we're even now, yeah?"

"What, a punch for a kiss?" Deeks laughed and nodded. "Alright."

"Good." Kensi stood up and headed in the direction that Callen had gone a little while earlier and this time leaving Deeks on the bench.

* * *

She had come home earlier than the rest because of a new case that she couldn't do anything on but deskwork for the day, so she had finished doing everything that she had wanted to and laid bored on the couch until Callen had came home. He hadn't said much about the case and she didn't really care because she had been wondering more about if Deeks had said anything but from the way he was acting, she didn't think he had. She was glad because she wanted to be the one to tell him.

Now she sat at the edge of the bed as she got ready to go to sleep. She was taking off her rings when she realised that if she didn't tell him now, then there wouldn't be time until the next day to, and Deeks might assume that she had told him, leading to a lot of trouble. Looking at the items in her hand, Kensi slid them back on and looked up. Callen was laying back on the bed, resting up against the head of it and doing something on his phone. There was a hint of a smile on his face that told her that he was in a generally good mood and that was a good thing if she was going to tell him.

Before she could even think about what to say, he spoke without looking up at her. "What?" he asked her with the smile in his voice.

"What?" she asked back in confusion. He looked up this time and raised an eyebrow.

"You're looking at me. I'm asking why." Callen told her and she nodded and looked away before getting up and standing in the middle of the room a little bit away from the bed but with space for her.

Kensi breathed in deeply and let it out, trying to think of what to say. She couldn't think of the right way to do it so she simply went for it with the first thing that came to her mind. "He kissed me."

* * *

**_Yes, she told him! It had to be done. Hahah. Thanks for the massive support for this fic so far, I can't believe I've gotten almost 20 reviews already! Ah-MAY-zing. Big up to all those who added, faved, alerted and reviewed - evershort, xuan441, MadiL93, DonStella and Sairs_J. _**


	6. Chapter 6

Callen raised an eyebrow once again. "What?" he asked in confusion but when she looked at him she could see that he had a general idea about what she was talking about. "Who?"

"Deeks." she told him finally and she saw the anger on his face before he got a hold of it.

"Yesterday?" he asked her even though she knew that he already knew the answer to that.

Kensi nodded and shrugged a bit. "It wasn't really anything."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" he asked her with the anger back in his voice although it was as soft as ever and she felt more guilty than before.

She shrugged again and neared the bed to sit on it again. "There was too much going on yesterday and I couldn't really think about it clearly. We agreed to forget about it but he mentioned yesterday again and I freaked out. I felt really guilty and I knew you'd be angry."

"I'd have been less angry if you had told me yesterday." he told her. "Did you kiss him?"

"No!" Kensi exclaimed quickly. "I wouldn't, G. Even if we had almost died."

"Then why are you feeling guilty?" Callen asked her skeptically and she sighed and turned to face him properly on the bed.

"Because I didn't tell you. It felt like I was cheating when it really meant nothing. At least, to me it didn't." she told him and he nodded but she could see that he was still angry.

"What about him? Why did you kiss you?" he asked her.

Kensi let out a breath and remembered the reasoning that Deeks had given her the day before. "Because we almost got blown up. He said it was just something stupid to do after saving me."

"That doesn't give him the right to kiss other people's wives!" he exclaimed with a louder voice than before but not loud enough to be called shouting. She didn't think she'd ever heard him shout before, at least not at her, even when he was angry both in general or at her.

She took in a breath and tried to sound more certain than she felt as she spoke. "Look, it was a mistake and we're past it." she told him. "We talked about it after we talked and it's sorted. It's not going to affect us anymore as long as it's not brought up again."

"You sure? About Deeks I mean, he mentioned it today after saying you'd forget about it yesterday. If that carries on, Kenz, then it's gonna cause problems. Professional and personal ones." he said skeptically again and she nodded seriously.

"I'm sure and that's why." she told him and he nodded.

There was a small pause before he carried on after sighing deeply. "Ok, fine."

Kensi looked at him in surprise. "That's it?" she asked. Callen gave her a confused looked and she carried on. "I thought you'd get really angry but you're calm."

He shook his head. "What's being angry going to do right now?" he said and she knew what he meant.

She moved to lay down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder when she figured that he had either let go of the anger for now or was doing what he did best and hiding it. "Don't do anything stupid, please?" she asked, knowing that just because he was acting like it didn't mean he would forget about it.

"I won't." he said. "Don't worry."

He thought about what she had told him over and over again that night and all that he could think about was the fact that he hadn't even thought that something like that was possible between his wife and her partner. He believed her when she said that it meant nothing, but he only believed that it meant nothing to her. Kisses didn't happen by accident and he knew that only meant one thing and he had to find a way to sort it out without doing something '_stupid_' such as getting rid of the man like he wanted to, in any way possible.

* * *

They had caught the man who had killed the Petty Officer that had started the case for them, and Callen watched through the TV screen as Sam and Kensi interrogated him. It was usually him and Sam, but this time, he thought he'd let her had a go after keeping her out of the field for as long as he could had that day and making her unhappy. He wasn't too surprised to see that she was good at it but he had learnt long ago that she was a natural at this job which was more than just being an operator.

The door to the boathouse opened and closed behind him and he didn't have to look back to know that it would be Deeks. He had been speaking to his LAPD friends about the case and only now managed to get back. Callen could feel the pressure of his gun against his back of all a sudden and he knew it was because he was doing everything he could to not reach for it. He had been doing so all day and he would continue to because it wasn't right. There was a lot that he wanted to do to the man but he knew that he wouldn't and couldn't because of what he had promised to Kensi and because of the fact that if wouldn't be worth the trouble in the end of it all.

He had reminded himself that it wasn't anything meaningful and that it was past, like she had told him, but it hadn't helped much. Now that he knew, he had to do _something_ about it, even if it wasn't what he wanted to do. He told himself that when undercover, they had both kissed other people although that was more understandable than this.

He could feel the presense of the other man behind him and he still didn't look back as he spoke to him. "Kensi told me about the kiss." he said simply.

Deeks paused, not sure how to reply to it. "I know. She told me." he said in reply and watched the other man even though he was in front of him and sitting on the table ahead so that he couldn't even see his face, but if he had to guess from his voice, then it didn't sound like he was going to die anytime soon. But then Deeks remembered just how great of a operator Callen was and that meant that he would be able to cover up any emotions he felt.

"Told you or warned you?" Callen asked sceptically and he didn't really blame her if she had warned him, considering the things that were going through his head even though he knew he wouldn't do it.

Deeks shrugged even though he couldn't see it. "Not sure." he said honestly and Callen nodded once and kept on watching the TV screen though he was really watching the reflection that he could see with it. He could see the other man standing awkwardly behind him and he took pleasure in knowing that he didn't have to do anything to make him feel so awkward. "But if it was meant to be a warning, then I forgot the kevlar."

Callen smirked at his words though it wasn't a really happy smirk. "Wouldn't be fair to shoot you then." he told him roughly and stood up and turned to face him. "And I'm your boss and I think it's against the rules."

"I'm glad." he said seriously.

Callen crossed his arms and chose his words carefully. "But that doesn't mean that I've forgiven or forgotten. You two might be able to put it behind you, and I won't. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you managed to get her out of there, but that doesn't give you the right to kiss her. There's a line, Deeks, and you crossed it, and next time, it won't be just a punch you'll have to deal with, you understand me?"

Deeks nodded. "Yeah, I get you." he said, sighing in relief that that was all that he was going to have to deal with because he had no intentions on doing the actions again.

"Good." he said and went back to where he had been sitting and looking at the tv just as the other two agents had finished up and left the room to come to the one they were in.

He turned to look at them without standing up and he didn't miss the way that Kensi noticed the two of them in the same room alone. Her eyebrows raised a bit and she looked between them both but he guessed that she let it go when she saw there was nothing different with either of them, at least physically. Instead of bringing it up, they carried on talking about the case and proved that the issue was put behind them and Callen was happy to see that.

* * *

Once the case was closed and the paperwork was done, the team were glad to be able to head home instead of being forced onto another case straight away. They usually hardly ever got time to wind down before another case came along so they took every moment that they could to do so. They usually spent some time together after hard cases, but this time, it was getting late and nothing would really be open and they were all tired anyway.

She didn't bring up the subject of the two of them being in the room alone where she knew something had happened all day until late that night when they were sitting on the couch lazily watching some boring tv. She didn't look at him as she spoke either to make it seem like she didn't really care when in fact, she cared a lot and the want to know was killing her from the inside out.

"So what did you say to Deeks then?" she asked. When Callen didn't reply, she looked up at him and saw that he was smirking and that only made her more interested. "G?"

He shrugged. "Nothing." he said and she raised an eyebrow at him telling him that she didn't believe his words. "Nothing for you to worry about."

"That just makes me worry more." she told him, looking back at the tv when she saw the smirk grow into a proper smile and she couldn't hide hers.

"Don't worry. We just talked and sorted it." he told her. "As long as he doesn't do it again, we'll be fine."

"You won't have to worry there." Kensi said and he nodded and she realised that they did in fact manage to sort something out and to her relief, it was done without any harm to either one of them. "Thanks." she said.

He didn't her to say anything more about it to know what she thanking him for. "You're welcome, babe." he replied in a way that ended the conversation and she was glad of it because if he could let it be for the time being, then she had nothing to worry about at all.

* * *

**_Firstly, I am sooooooooooooooo sorry for the delayed update. We had a powercut yesterday afternoon and it's still out so I haven't had the internet or my laptop working since then. I'm currently in the library, meant to be studying, but I'd rather write and post this instead. Secondly, 12 reviews for the last chapter? WOW! That is just brilliant! Thank you all for the adds, aves, alerts and the reviewers - Jump4joy13, evershort, xuan441, Allie, Giggles-Smiles-Laughter, CharlieLPHJ, DonStella, Sairs J, asdf, MadiL93, ginger snap01 and miley-avril. Thank you to those who have stuck with me throughout this story too! I might do a sequel/semi-sequel if you guys are interested? I have an idea for it in my head already..._**


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